Loftis Middle School is the recent recipient of a $2,000 grant from Dollar General Literacy Foundation, which the school is using to purchase leveled texts, said Curriculum Coach Jessie Beaumont Schmid.
Seventy percent of students who enter middle school in the United States are not reading on grade level, she said.
In former Loftis Curriculum Coach Scott Rosenow’s application for the grant, he said approximately 210 students would be served through the grant funds, said Crystal Ghassemi, spokeswoman for Dollar General.
“We’re hoping to reach kids where they are and help them move forward,” Schmid said in regards to the school’s new literacy tools.
The school plans to purchase more leveled texts as well as online access to leveled texts. The leveled texts meet Common Core standards and are high-level interest for less-than-motivated readers, she added.
The school’s “Response to Intervention” program identifies children who have fallen through the cracks, and teachers can use the leveled texts to meet them where they are in terms of reading level, said Schmid.
“We were very fortunate to have Scott at Loftis,” she said. “We don’t have the funds a lot of the Title [I] schools do.”
DGLF was founded in 1993 by Cal Turner Jr. in honor of his grandfather, who was functionally illiterate, said Ghassemi. Since that time, Dollar General has awarded $97 million in grant funds.
“It’s a program and cause we really stand behind and look forward to doing for many years to come,” she said.